Cultured Football #222
Preseason Myth. Graffiti Wars. Ekitike Beats Data. Feeding the Game. New Challenge in Paris.
The myth of Preseason
By for
Once a meaningful reset, pre-season is now a marketing tour squeezed into jet-lagged schedules and interrupted by international duty. Players are paraded more than prepared, while tactical tweaks rarely survive past the season’s opening setbacks. What really matters is the quality of players brought in, rather than the time allowed to prepare. At least for Manchester United.
Graffiti Wars: A battle for territory in East Berlin
By for
A city once split by ideology now sees its identity contested in smaller, subtler ways. In East Berlin, even electricity boxes have become canvases in a quiet war between Union and Hertha fans, each layer of paint a new front in a rivalry shaped by history. What might seem like mischief reveals deeper truths about territory, memory, and expression in a place where the past never quite stays buried.
Bonus Read: Afterlives: Highbury
[ x ]
Highbury still stands. But only just.
Ekitike at Liverpool: hit or flop? Why he's so hard to scout
By
for ESPN
Hugo Ekitike might be the boldest gamble of Liverpool’s recent success. At 23, he embodies both the promise and peril of modern recruitment: a dazzling physical profile, elite underlying numbers, and a résumé that’s both thin and tantalising. His stats suggest a breakout is imminent, but his league context, physical frailties, and club lineage raise serious doubts. Depending on what you value - raw output, expected goals, versatility - he’s either the next big thing or Frankfurt’s latest mirage. There’s a lot riding on which version walks onto the Anfield pitch.
Bonus Read: Tell us never again
[ x ]
Liverpool haven’t gotten much wrong in recent seasons. Their kits, however, have been among those.
Thinking of someone who might enjoy Cultured Football? Let them know.
How Street Football Feeds the Global Game
By for
“Formal academies have grass, kits, and coaches with clipboards. They teach control, structure, and discipline but they often miss the one thing that street football gives for free: freedom under constraint. In the alley, the pitch is small, the space is tight, and the pressure is constant. So you learn to keep the ball under threat, not in a drill but in survival. You learn to dribble past two defenders not because the coach told you to, but because the only way out is through.”
With The Stroke of a Brush: The Arnault Project at Paris FC
By
In a city long dominated by one club and one narrative, Paris FC’s rise feels like a quiet rebellion. Backed by LVMH and Red Bull, they are crafting a project rooted in local talent, long-term vision, and cultural relevance rather than vanity. From youth development to stadium relocation, this isn’t another flash-in-the-pan superclub but a club reshaping what ambition looks like in modern football. Paris - and French football - could be all the better for it.
Every Saturday, Cultured Football brings you five great football articles you will enjoy reading. And you get a free copy of the book Master of the Azzurri when you join.
In Case You Missed It Here’s Last Week’s Most Read: How Wrong Are Football Pundits?
By Python Football Review
Pundits’ knowledge – or lack – of football is something that fans love to debate. But what happens when their predictions are put to the test? The findings challenge a few long-held assumptions, settle a couple of old grudges, and deliver some unexpected insights.